People v. Johnson CA3

Filed 12/8/25 P. v. Johnson CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Sacramento) ----

THE PEOPLE, C101200

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 05F06126)

v.

JOSEPH TERRELL JOHNSON,

Defendant and Appellant.

In 2006, defendant Joseph Terrell Johnson was convicted of first degree murder with special circumstances and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole (LWOP) plus consecutive terms of 25 years to life for related firearm enhancements and 34 years four months for other convictions and enhancements. In 2023, defendant moved for an evidence preservation proceeding and appointment of counsel pursuant to People v. Franklin (2016) 63 Cal.4th 261 (Franklin) and In re Cook

1

(2019) 7 Cal.5th 439 (Cook). The trial court granted the motion and scheduled the Franklin proceeding. Our Supreme Court decided People v. Hardin (2024) 15 Cal.5th 834 (Hardin I) before the scheduled date. Hardin I rejected an equal protection challenge to the youth offender parole statute—Penal Code section 3051—by an offender sentenced to LWOP for special circumstance murder, but did not foreclose “other as-applied challenges” to the statute “based on particular special circumstances or the factual circumstances of individual cases.”1 (Hardin I, supra, at p. 864.) Defendant proposes to bring an as- applied challenge to section 3051 and urges us to reverse and remand the matter so he may present his arguments to the trial court. We agree with defendant that reversal is appropriate and remand with directions to give him an opportunity to demonstrate his eligibility for a Franklin hearing. I. BACKGROUND Defendant and two confederates committed a series of robberies and attempted robberies of Sacramento area gas stations in 2005. (People v. Johnson (2010) 183 Cal.App.4th 253, 261.) Defendant shot and killed an attendant during the last attempted robbery. (Ibid.) Defendant was 18 years old at the time. A jury found defendant guilty of first degree murder (§ 187, subd. (a)) and found true the special circumstance that the murder was committed during an attempted robbery (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(A)). The jury also found defendant guilty of five counts of second degree robbery (§ 211) and two counts of attempted robbery (§§ 664/211), and found firearm and armed principal enhancements to be true (§§ 12022, subd. (a)(1), 12022.53, subds. (b) & (d)). The trial court sentenced defendant to LWOP for the special circumstance murder with an additional 25 years to life for the firearm enhancement